INFLUENCE OF HEADTEACHERS LEADERSHIP STYLES ON

EMPLOYEES IN SECONDARY SCHOOL ACCESS TO THEIR RIGHTS

IN NANDI EAST KENYA

Jerotich Teresa

A research project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

award of the degree of master of Education in corporate governance

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

2013

ii  

DECLARATION

This research project is my original work and has not been presented for an award

for a degree in any other university.

……………………………….

Jerotich Teresa

E55/66875/2010

This research proposal has been submitted for examination with our approval as

university supervisors.

……………………………………….

Dr. Matula Phylisters

Lecturer

Department of Education Administration and planning

University of Nairobi.

…………………………………………

Mr. Ferdinand Mbeche

Lecturer

Department of Education Administration and Planning:

University of Nairobi

iii  

DEDICATION

I dedicate this work to my loving children Ishmael, Yvvone, Joy and Gloria, to my

husband Julius and my dear parents Pauline and Augustine.

iv  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the support of various people and institutions for making this

research a success. This work would have amounted to nothing without the

immeasurable guidance from my supervisors. Dr. Matula and Mr. Mbeche. I am

greatly indebted to you. I am indeed grateful to the teachers of Samoei boys for their

support and all the respondents from the sampled schools in Nandi East. Your

participation ensured the success of this study. To my family I wish to thank them all

for the support they gave me in all dimensions. I am grateful to my husband for

being there for the family in my absence, my daughter Yvvone for taking care of the

siblings, my son for the moral support and young Joy and Gloria for the optimism

they displayed all through. I am grateful to my parents for helping me lay a

foundation for my studies especially my mother for modeling me to be focused in

life.

v  

TABLE OF CONTENT

Content Page

Declaration ............................................................................................................... ii

Dedication .............................................................................................................. iii

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... iv

Table of content .......................................................................................................... v

List of tables ........................................................................................................... viii

List of figures ............................................................................................................. ix

List of abbreviations and acronyms ............................................................................ x

Abstract .............................................................................................................. xi

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background to the study  ....................................................................................... 1 

1.2   Statement of the problem  ...................................................................................... 8 

1.3   Purpose of the study  .............................................................................................. 9 

1.4   Objectives of the study  .......................................................................................... 9 

1.5   Research Questions  ............................................................................................. 10 

1.6   Significance of the Study  .................................................................................... 10 

1.7   Limitation of the study  ........................................................................................ 12 

1.8   Delimitation of the study.  .................................................................................... 12 

1.9   Basic assumption of the study.  ............................................................................ 12 

1.10   Definition of significant terms  ............................................................................ 13 

1.11   Organization of the study  .................................................................................... 13 

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0   Introduction  ......................................................................................................... 15 

2.1.  General Concept of Leadership and Leadership Styles  ...................................... 15 

2.2   Authoritarian leadership style and employee access to their rights  .................... 17 

2.3   Democratic leadership style and employee access to their rights  ....................... 21 

2.3   Laissez-faire leadership styles and employee access to their rights  .................... 24 

2.4   Charismatic leadership style and employee access to their rights  ...................... 27 

2.5  Summary of review of Literature  ........................................................................ 29 

vi  

2.6   Theoretical framework  ........................................................................................ 30 

2.6   Conceptual framework  ........................................................................................ 31 

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1  Introduction  ........................................................................................................ 32 

3.2   Research design  .................................................................................................. 32 

3.3  Target populations. .............................................................................................. 33 

3.4   Sample size and sampling procedure  .................................................................. 33 

3.5   Research Instruments  .......................................................................................... 34 

3.6   Validity of the instruments  .................................................................................. 35 

3.7   Reliability of Instruments  .................................................................................... 35 

3.8   Data collection Procedure.  .................................................................................. 37 

3.9   Data analysis and techniques.  ............................................................................. 37 

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1  Introduction  ......................................................................................................... 39 

4.2.  Questionnaire return rate  ..................................................................................... 39 

4.3.  Demographic characteristics of teachers  ............................................................. 40 

4.3.1.  Distribution of teachers according to teaching experience in the

institution  ............................................................................................................ 41 

4.3.2.  Distribution of teachers according to type of school  .......................................... 42 

4.3.3  Distribution of support staff according to gender  ............................................... 43 

4.3.4.  Distribution of support staff according to work experience in the

institution  ............................................................................................................ 44 

4.4   Autocratic leadership style and employee access to their rights.  ........................ 45 

4.5   Democratic leadership style and employee access to their rights.  ...................... 50 

4.6  Responses of support staff on democratic leadership style and access to

their rights  ........................................................................................................... 51 

4.7  Laissez – Faire leadership style and employee access to their rights. 54 

4.8   Teachers’ responses on the influence of Laissez- faire leadership style on

employee access to their right  ............................................................................. 56 

vii  

4.9  Support staff responses on Laissez- faire leadership style and employee

access to their rights  ............................................................................................ 56 

4.10   Charismatic leadership and employee access to their rights.  .............................. 58 

4.11  Teachers responses on charismatic leadership style and employee access

to their rights.  ...................................................................................................... 59 

 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0  Introduction  ......................................................................................................... 62 

5.1  Summary  ............................................................................................................. 62 

5.2.  Conclusions  ......................................................................................................... 64 

5.3  Recommendations  ............................................................................................... 65 

5.4.  Suggestions for further research  ......................................................................... 66 

REFERENCES. ...................................................................................................... 67

 Appendix I : Letter of Introduction ..................................................................... 71

Appendix II : Questionnaires for teachers ............................................................ 72

Appendix III : Questionnaire for the support stafF. ............................................... 76

Appendix IV : Letter of authorization .................................................................... 79

Appendix V : Research permit ............................................................................. 80

viii  

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Distribution of teachers according to teaching experience ....................... 41

Table 4.2 Distribution of teachers according to type of school ................................ 42

Table 4.3 Distribution of support staff according to work experience .................... 44

Table 4.4 views of teachers on autocratic leadership style and access to their

rights. ........................................................................................................ 47

Table 4.5 Reponses of support staff on autocratic leadership style and

employee access to their rights. ................................................................ 48

Table 4.6 Teachers responses on democratic leadership style .................................. 51

Table 4.7 Responses of support staff on democratic leadership style and

access to their rights. ................................................................................ 52

Table 4.8 Leadership styles ....................................................................................... 55

Table 4.9 – Teachers Responses on employee access to their rights ........................ 56

Table 4.10 Support Staff responses on Laisses faire leadership style ...................... 57

Table 4.11 Teachers response on charismatic leadership style. ................................ 60

ix  

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Distribution of teachers according to gender .......................................... 40

Figure 4.2 Distribution of support staff according to gender .................................... 43

Figure 4.3 Leadership styles . .................................................................................. 45

Figure 4.4. Teachers and support staff distribution according to choice of

leadership style. ........................................................................................ 46

Figure 4.5 Choice of leadership style ....................................................................... 59

 

x  

 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

CROC Convention on the Rights of the child

DC District Commissioner.

DEO District Education Officer.

ICCPR International Commission for civic and political rights

ILO International Labour Organization

NGO Non governmental organization

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Act

PDM Participative decision making

SPSS Statistical packages for social science.

TSC Teachers service commission

UN United Nations

UNDHR United Nations Declaration of human rights

US United States

xi  

ABSTRACT

The study was to find out the influence of headteachers leadership styles on

employee access to their rights in secondary schools in Nandi East district. The

objectives of the study were: to establish how autocratic leadership style on access to

employee rights, to investigate the influence of laissez-faire leadership style on

employee rights and to determine the influence of charismatic leadership style on

employee access to their rights. All literature reviewed related to the study was done

under the following categories; autocratic leadership styles and employee rights,

democratic leadership style and employee rights, Laissez-faire leadership style and

employee rights and charismatic leadership style and employee rights. The research

was based on four research objectives and four research questions. The study was

modeled by the postulates of path theory also known as path-goal theory of leader

effectiveness or path-goal model. The research adopted descriptive survey design to

study the influence of headteachers leadership style on employee access to their

rights. The target population was 2254 teachers from public secondary schools in

Nandi East and 127 teachers and 60 support staff forming 50% of the target

population. Dat was collected using two questionnaires for teachers and support and

staff. A return rate of 91% for the teachers was realized and a return rate of 80% for

the support staff was achieved. Data was analysed by use of frequencies and

percentages while qualitative data was analyzed using description and discussion.

From the findings the most popular leadership style used by headteachers was

democratic although support staff indicated with the highest percentage that their

headteachers used Laissez faire style. Conclusions and recommendations were made

based on the findings, suggestions for further research were made on carrying out the

research on a larger area and also on the need to find out the role of trade unions in

sensitizing employees on their rights.

1  

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The dynamics of leadership styles is not a new area of inquiry. The earliest knowledge

of Americans management writings was the study of managing slaves. The plantations

represented the largest private enterprises in the nation. Owners shared writings on how

to manage labour force and plantations operations effectively. Hoopes (2003). With

time leadership studies evolved and looked further into productivity as managers

realized that the heart and mind of employees, not just the movement of their bodies

mattered to productivity.

A group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewis established three major

leadership styles in their study: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire styles.

Under autocratic leadership style, the leader takes decisions without consultation

causing the greatest level of discontent from followers in relation to other styles. The

democratic leader involves people in decision making. The final decision ranges from

consensus to the leader having the final say. Laissez- faire type of leadership is where a

leader consciously minimizes his or her involvement in decision making. The followers

make all the decisions.

While leadership has been a topic of interest since the dawn of man leadership and

management studies were taken up in earnest in the early 20th century. This hub

chronicles a kind of revolution in leadership behaviour studies from the traits of

2  

effective leaders to follower centered leadership theories proposed in the late 20th, and

early 21st century.

Leadership studies in the early part of the 20th century focused on what has been

referred to as great man and trait theories. Great man theory of leadership proposes that

certain men are born to lead and when crises arise those men step up to take their

natural place Norhthouse (2007).Trait theory proposes that only men with in-born

characteristics for leadership will be successful leaders House(1974).The search was for

the right combination of characteristics that would lead to effective leading of

organizations. With time other theories of leadership studies have been developed to

show that this topic has been of interest to most researchers. These theories include

contingency theories, situational theories, behavioural, participative, management and

relationship theories. A study conducted by Bass (1990) indicates that 45% to 60% of

the entire factors which cause organizational success or failure are decided by the

leaders. The style of leadership has influence on the behavior of employees as well as

the adoption of the strategies of the firm. On the other hand managers can influence the

commitment of employees to the quality of the service as well as their retention by

demonstrating it themselves (Babakas et al 2003). This call for managers to embrace a

style of leadership that is able to influence the behavior of employees in varied ways.

The style of leadership which implies the way leaders act towards or treat employees

they lead influence the quality of service rendered Enrhart (2004). Drucker (1993)

pointed out that performance and quality of managers are the main elements which

decide the success of an organization. It is therefore evident that the style of leadership

3  

a head teacher has close relationship to the institution development and employee

access to their rights.

Many organizations have had the challenge of retaining their highly resourceful

employees. This challenge has been hard to solve since organization leadership teams

are not performing their tasks as expected. They employ leadership styles which make

it hard to retain the best talent in their organization since access to the rights is

inherited.

The institute of Global labor and Human rights founded in United States (U.S) in 1981

has the mission of promoting and defending human, women’s and workers rights in the

global economy. The institute undertakes in-depth research, public education and

popular campaigns that empower the Americans people to provide support and

solidarity to workers struggling to defend their most basic rights. This global

commitment shows the importances of helping workers to access their rights.

A study of these methods is important as inter- culturalization continues to occur

globally. This integration of cultures has impacted education, international business and

NGOs(non governmental organizations) and necessitated changes in the way people

lead and communicate, leadership now on any level, must be creative and flexible.

There is no longer a place for the one size fits all. Successful leaders must have

knowledge and understanding of the audience and the culture, setting or situation where

the governance, decision- making and presentation are taking place Volf (2010)

Leadership to a large extent is a reflection of a fellowship between the leader and the

followers. Leaders play an important role in facilitating access to employee rights,

4  

throughout history workers claiming some sort of right have attempted to pursue their

interests. During the middle ages the peasants’ revolt in England expressed demand for

better wages and working conditions, thus becoming a pointer to labour rights

Labour rights are relatively a new addition to modern corpus of human rights, the

modern concept of labour rights dates to the 19thgcentury after the creation of labour

unions following the industrialization processes. Karl Max stands out as one of the

earliest and most prominent advocates for workers rights. His philosophy and economic

theory focused on labour issues and advocates his economic system of socialism, a

society which would be ruled by workers .Many of the social movements for rights of

workers were associated with groups influenced by Marx such as the socialist and

communists. More recent workers rights advocacy has focused on the particular role,

exploitation and needs of women workers.

The ILO(international labor organization) was founded in 1919 as part of league of

nations to protect workers rights. The ILO later became incorporated into the UN

(united nations).The UN itself backed workers by incorporating several rights into two

articles of UNDHR (united nations declaration of human rights) which is the basis of

the International convention on economic, social and cultural rights. ILO recognizes

core labour standards to be of particular importance and these are: freedom of

association, right to collective bargaining, prohibition from all forms of forced labour

and non discrimination in employment. Labor rights or workers rights are a group of

legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between

workers and employees usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general

5  

these rights debate have to do with negotiating workers pay, benefits and safe working

conditions ILO convention (2006).

The core labor standards are identified by the international labor organization (ILO) in

the Declaration of principles and rights of work and are widely recognized to be of

particular importance. These standards are composed of qualitative, not quantitative

standard and not established a particular level of working conditions, wages or health

and safety standard. Core labor standards are important human rights and are

recognized in widely ratified human rights instrument including the convention on the

rights of the child (CROC). The most widely ratified human rights treaty with 193

parties and the ICCPR (international commission for civic and political rights) with 160

parties. Due to the importance of labor rights at local and global level this study

identified the influence of leadership styles on employee access to their rights in Nandi

East.

Leadership styles are very important in facilitating employee access to their rights and

in Kenya labour laws have been enacted. While the intention of the labour laws is

noble, the recently enacted new labour laws are less likely to enhance the relationships

between the employers and employees. It is indeed a fact that the changes that have

occurred within the local job market over the past few years as a result of structural

adjustment programmes, liberation of the economy and technological innovation called

for a review of the labour laws the review of the national labour laws ILO (2006).

6  

The review of the national labour laws has indeed been a concern to both the Kenyan

Public and the Government for a long time. Of at most concern are the work of injury

benefits act and the occupation safety and health Act Which basically concerned with

ensuring that oppressive practises are gotten rid of at work places.

Work injury benefits Act, is an Act of parliament that seeks to provide for

compensation to employees for work related injuries and diseases contracted in the

course of their employment and for other connected purpose.

While initially according to Kenya association of manufacturers (KAM) a beneficiary

had to be a worker earning at least Kshs 33,333 a month, the current act accommodates

on employees further increasing the cost for employers. The Act has further widened

the meaning of the employee to include any worker on a contract of service with an

employer by removing the limitation of the earnings level, this shows the commitment

of the Kenya government to enhance employee rights. The work injury benefits Act

section 30 part (v) says that compensation for permanent disablement shall be

calculated on the basis of earning for 96 moths subject to the minimum and maximum

amounts determinate by the minister of labour.

On the other hand the occupation safety and health Act (OSHA) No 15 of 2007

provides for the safety health and welfare of workers and all persons who are lawfully

present at workplaces. It also provide for the establishment of the national council for

occupational safety and health and for other connection purposes OSHA introduced

7  

compulsory annual safety and health audits, risk assessment and the requirements for a

health and safety statements by all employers.

In line with the labour relations Act of 2007 an employer must recognize a labour union

for purposes of collective bargaining if that labour union simple majority of unionsable

employees.

The employer is there after required to provide the legal operational facilities to the

recognize trade union.

The Core of industrial relations is the knowledge of the fundamental principle of human

rights. It would be a futile exercise for a human resources manager not know the basic

human rights since his key task is the management of human beings. A human

resources manager who disregards the human rights in his management tasks would

find it difficult to achieve the organizational objectives since management work with

and through people. Equal employment opportunity is about making sure that

workspaces are free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment and

providing programs to assist members of equal employment opportunity groups to

overcome past or present disadvantages.

This means having workspace rules, polices, practices and behavious that are fair and

do not disadvantage people because they belong to particular groups. In such

environment all workers are valued and respected and have opportunities to develop

their full potential and pursue a career path of their choice Sababu (2010).

8  

In the secondary schools in Nandi East District the teachers and the support staff form a

team of employees in the school who are under the leadership of the head teachers. The

head teacher is expected to respect the rights of employees in his or her management

tasks in order to achieve organizational objectives. A leadership style affects

employees’ access to their rights, which in turn affects employee satisfaction, thus

affecting work related outcome. The general problem is that leadership is often focused

on tasks that make employees more productive without realizing the influence

leadership style has upon access to employee rights

1.2 Statement of the problem

Leadership styles are significant in employees’ access to their rights. An effective

leadership style should enable employees to work in a discrimination free environment,

be paid the minimum wage, be compensated incase of injury at the work place, work in

safe and healthy work place, join a union and have a right to review personal files and

be entitle to various types of leave. An effective leader ensures that employees are not

discriminated or unfairly treated because of their race, sex, color, nationality, age,

religion, disability, marital status, medical conditions or sexual orientation. most studies

have been focusing on performance in exams for example Okoth (2002))studied on

effects of leadership styles on performance in KCSE(Kenya certificate of secondary

examination) examination in Nairobi province, Matula(2001) studied on head teachers

behavior and students performance in KCSE in Vihiga district.

Muli (2005) studied on the effects of head teachers management styles on performance

in KCSE in Kitui district. Few researchers have studied on employee access to their

9  

rights. ILO has set the core labour standards yet some employees are not aware of

them or are yet to enjoy them. In view of this situation there is need to determine the

influence of head teachers leadership styles on employee access to their rights in

secondary schools in Nandi east district and improve their commitment to work as well

as influence them to talk and think positively about their schools. In Nandi East district

most employees are not aware of their rights while others fear demanding for them. The

working environment in some schools expose the employees to health risks for example

those conducting experiments in the laboratories. Most support staff are not members of

trade unions and therefore can not benefit from collective bargaining. If this inability of

employees to access their rights is not solved it may lead to discontent among the

employees which impacts negatively on their offering of services, thus influencing the

academics and realization of the institution objectives. This is dangerous to the

individual learner and the achievement of the national goals of education. The research

therefore intends to find out the influence of head teachers leadership styles on teachers

and support staff access to their rights in secondary schools in Nandi East.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of head teachers leadership

styles on employee access to their rights in Nandi East district.

1.4 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study were:

10  

i. To establish how autocratic leadership style influences employees access to

their rights.

ii. To determine the influence of democratic leadership style on employee access

to their rights.

iii. To investigate the influence of laissez-faire leadership style on employee access

to their rights.

iv. To determine the influence of charismatic leadership style on employee access

to their rights.

1.5 Research Questions

The study was based on the following research questions:

i. How does autocratic leadership style influence employee access to their rights?

ii. How does democratic leadership style influence access to employee rights?

iii. What is the influence of laissez-faire leadership style on employee access to

their rights?

iv. How does charismatic leadership style influence employee access to their

rights?

1.6 Significance of the Study

The research findings from this study if made available is expected to create awareness

of employee rights in the work place and challenge the same employees to seek for

11  

ways and means of addressing their inability to access their rights. The teachers and

support staff in secondary schools in Nandi east can use the findings from this study to

identify amicable ways of accessing their rights without causing conflicts in the work

place. Not much research has been done on influence of leadership styles on employee

access to their rights and therefore this study is expected to produce useful knowledge

for reference to other researchers as well as forming a basis for further research.

Based on the research data that was collected the research has made recommendation

on the best practices of leadership styles that positively contributes to employees access

to their rights. The study has made recommendation on discrimination in work place,

compensation benefits, healthy working environment and freedom to join a trade union.

Such recommendations can inform policy formation in secondary schools with regard

to head teacher and their relationship with employees.

At the school level the study is expected to influence corporate governance in

secondary schools in Nandi East District. The attempt to deal with employee access to

their rights should influence haedteachers in adopting leadership styles that facilitate

access to these rights. An employee who can access their right without any limitation

will be motivated and this will create a conducive environment trickling down to

students who will benefit from an employee who is motivated to work. The use of

knowledge obtained from the study will improve the head teachers relationship with

employees; the quality of leadership may also raise the standard of education in the

learning institutions

12  

1.7 Limitation of the study

The researcher encountered the following challenges when caring it out.

Fear from respondents felt that the research on access to their rights is very sensitive

and that they may lose their jobs. This was dealt with by giving the respondents ample

time to give their responses so that they do not feel that they were under undue pressure

to give their responses and be assured of confidentiality of their identity. The study was

carried out in one district and not the whole country and therefore the findings can only

be generalized to other areas of the country with caution.

1.8 Delimitation of the study

The study was confined to public secondary school teachers, and support staff in

secondary schools in Nandi east district. The study focused on the influence of

headteachers leadership styles of autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and charismatic

and their influence on employee access to their rights in Nandi east. The sample

population was selected from public secondary schools only because they have a

similar set up.

1.9 Basic assumption of the study

The study was based on the following assumptions:

i. Respondents are confident to give honest responses.

ii. Respondents have knowledge of their rights and can be able to differentiate the

different leadership styles of their headteachers in their schools.

13  

1.10 Definition of significant terms

Access refers to a way of getting employees rights.

Autocratic refers to a leader who displays authoritarian leadership style.

Core labor standards refer to important human rights that are recognized in widely

ratified human rights instruments.

Democratic refers to leaders who involve people in their leadership role.

Employee refers to teachers and support staff in secondary schools.

Employees’ rights refer to practices like non discrimination, compensation benefits,

working environment and freedom to join trade unions.

Influence refers the effects that the head teacher’s leadership styles will have.

Labor rights refers to entitlements to employees

Leader refers to head teacher of a secondary school.

Leadership style refers way of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating

people by a leader.

1.11 Organization of the study

This study contains five chapters of which chapter one covers : Introduction,

background to the problem , statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives

of the study, research questions, significance of the Chapter two covers literature view,

theoretical framework and conceptual framework. Chapter three will cover the

following :Introduction, research design ,target population, sample size and sampling

14  

procedure ,research instruments, instruments reliability ,instruments validity, data

collection procedures and data analysis techniques. Chapter four contains data

analysis, interpretation, and discussion while chapter five deals with discussion

summary, conclusion and recommendations of the study and suggestions for further

research.

15  

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter discussed the literature related to the influence of leadership style on

employee access to their rights. It particularly focused on literature related to influence

of autocratic, democratic and lazier-faire leadership style on employee access to their

rights.

2.1. General Concept of Leadership and Leadership Styles

Leadership is described in many different ways. Koontz (1990) defines leadership as

the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Sanford (1973) observes that without leadership, organizations were nothing but masses

of individuals. He notes that leadership is the means through which the leader guides

the beheaviour of other people towards goal accomplishment. The interpersonal

influence is experienced through communication and more generally through behavior.

Armstrong (2002) defines leadership as the process of influencing and supporting

others to work enthusiastically towards achieving the objectives. Leadership is the

catalyst that transformed potential into reality and the ultimate act that identifies,

develop channel and enriches the potential already in an organization and its people.

Leadership is a concept that has had a variety of views postulated to create definitions

that culture its form and conduct. McGowan and Miller (2004) examine the problems

that school headteachers and leaders face in order to design guidance for leadership.

16  

They assert that leadership is about both leaders themselves and the relationships

among the various leaders in an organization. They further argue that, at various times,

the idea that leadership is greater than the individual leader has been referred to as

interdependent, boundary less, collected or connected leadership. The collective

leadership capabilities of leaders acting together in groups and across boundaries to

implement strategies, solve problems respond to threats adapt to change, support

innovation, etc. is desirable for a successful school.

Leadership according to Fulani (2001) is about taking risks, striking out in a new

directions, creating visions, tapping imaginations, changing the way people think about

what is desirable, creating excitement about working with children and communities,

building new relationships and structures and charging the existing cultures. While

management skills are necessary aspects fo the school leaders’ job and sometime must

be devoted to managing resources and people, management skills and time are no

longer sufficient to meet the escalating challenges and demands.

Critical aspects of leadership are helping a group to develop shared understanding

about organization and its activities and goals that can create a sense of purpose and of

vision (Hallinger 2003. In an institution set up employees cannot develop a good sense

of purpose and vision if their rights are not respected.

Vroom (1979) refers to leadership styles as a particular behavior applied by a leader to

motivate his or her subordinates to achieve the objectives of the organization. A

number of researchers have developed leadership style models based around decision

making such as Lewin, Jonnenbaum and Schmich. Each of these models looked at a

17  

range of styles from the one in which the leader made all the decisions as their own. A

key element in each of those models is the assessment of which style is most

appropriate at a given point and whether the followers were able and willing to make

decisions themselves.

There are various leadership styles that are used by heads of institutions Shetty (1970)

identified three leadership styles, laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic. Shetty

pointed out that the democratic style of leadership is more beneficial to the individual,

group and organization. Likert (1961) advocates for employee, centred style of

leadership that is based on trust and participation. He argues that leadership based on

participatory leadership could produce greater employee satisfaction and increased

organizational effectiveness. Likert further pointed out that the leader works as the

“Linking ;pin” between organizational levels. As such the leader can act as a facilitator

for the organization in planning, coordinating, identifying needs of the organization at

different levels, and translating these needs into task accomplishment by obtaining the

employees commitment to the organizational goals.

2.2 Authoritarian leadership style and employee access to their rights

According to Khurana (2002) leadership is essentially the ‘secret’ to successfully

fulfilling the demanding roles in today’s society. A leadership style encompasses

consistent combinations of individual’s behaviors and attitudes towards group members

in order to achieve goals. Hackman and Johnson (2009) agrees with this when they

point out that authoritarian leadership style is being used when a leader dictates the

policies and procedures, decides what goals to be achieved and directs and controls all

18  

activities without any meaningful participation by the subordinates. This means

therefore that this leadership style encompasses a consistent combination of

individual’s behaviors and attitudes towards group members and may have an influence

on employee access to their rights.

Research carried out by Kurt Lewin a renowned social scientist cited in authoritarian

leadership style, the authoritarian figure selects which members will work

collaboratively and determines solely the work tasks for the teams. This leader is very

personal in his praise and criticism of each member but does not actively participate

with the group unless remonstrating the group. The issue of electing which members

will work collaboratively almost amounts to discrimination of the members in the work

place and this study tried to determine how autocratic leadership style influences the

rights to non discrimination of employees in secondary schools in Nandi East.

Clark (2008) differs with Kurt Lewis approach and points out that the leadership style

selected by managers depends solely on forces of influence that determines the

appropriate leadership, this forces include time available, level of respect, information

ownership, managers knowledge level internal conflicts, stress level, task nature and

laws. Hence this study aimed at finding out how the managers knowledge level

influences employees access to their rights.

Access to employee rights should be facilitated by the leader or the manager who

should be flexible in his or her leadership style. However this may not be the case as

Lewin found out in his research that it’s more difficult to move from an authoritarian

19  

style to democratic style than vice versa. Abuse of this style is usually viewed as

controlling, bossy and dictatorial. When an authoritarian leader becomes dictatorial he

or she is likely to hinder employees from accessing their rights for example freedom to

join a trade union.

Directive leadership (autocratic leadership) entails letting the subordinates to

understand what is exactly expected of them and giving them directions. The

subordinates are expected to go by the rules and the regulation (Mulins 2005).

Leadership by directives has been described as autocratic, oriented to specific task,

manipulative and persuasive (Bass 1981). Although it can be effective in

communicating a vision which is clear and concise regarding the strategic goals of an

organization, leadership by directives is marked by intimidation. Intimidation instills

fear in employees who will find it difficult to demand for their rights in the work place

thus negatively influencing access.

Bass (1990) gave several studies which indicates that directive (autocratic) leadership

results to lower acceptance of the decisions made by the management or leaders in

comparison to more participative style of leadership which is then related to the

influence that leadership styles can have on employee access to their rights since when

there is cordial relationship between employees and management or leaders then access

to rights are likely to be facilitated. From the views of Bass (1990), authoritarian

leaders can be arrogant, hostile, boastful and egotistical. They control employees’

behavior through such means as punishment, reward, arbitrary rules and task

orientation. Under such a situation, employees are deemed ignorant, indolent, dislike

20  

responsibility and prefer to be led. As such there is little or no opportunity for

subordinates to develop initiative and creativity as they cannot be trusted to do the right

thing for the organization. Their creativity can be stifled and curtailed as they cannot

easily express themselves and may therefore fear to demand for their rights from their

leaders. Autocratic leadership tends to be highly structured and hierarchical and as

such may create a negative relationship between the leaders and the subordinates.

Nzure (1999) notes that the autocratic leader held all the authority and responsibility in

an organization with communication almost exclusively moving from top to bottom.

\the manager assigned the workers specific tasks and expected orderly and precise

results. The manager set goals told workers what to do and how and when to do it. He

may or may not give any explanations and also exercised close supervision. Okumbe

(1998) states that autocratic leadership was task oriented and workers were used as a

machine to effect productivity. The workers were expected to carry out directions

without questions. There was little or no group participation in the decision making

process and no effective communication between the leader and subordinates. Access

to employee rights require effective and open communication between the leader and

subordinates and where this is lacking, employees are likely to suffer a great deal.

Goodworth (1988) states the autocratic leader dominated team members and used

unilateralism to achieve objectives. He notes that his approach to leadership generally

resulted in passive resistance from team members and required continual pressure and

direction from the leader in order to get things done. Okumbe (1998) however notes

that the advantage with autocratic leadership, is that workers are compelled to work

21  

quickly for high production. He also notes that autocratic leadership did not encourage

the use of rewards to motivate the workers.

2.3 Democratic leadership style and employee access to their rights

Democratic leadership style has been noted to contribute positively to employee access

to their rights from related research findings. This leadership style entails consulting

with subordinates and the evaluation of their opinion and suggestion before decisions

are made by the management (Mullins 2005). By inference then this implies that a

democratic leader can listen to complaints and needs of employees and therefore

promotes access to their rights.

Due to the consultative nature of the democratic leadership style it is probable that this

process will enhance greatly the level of shared values between the organization and its

employees which enhances employee access to their rights.

In participative (democratic leadership) the employee still can gain feedback from their

managers on expectations of their roles when necessary Clark et al( 2009) the

communicative nature between managers and employees paves way for easy access to

employee rights.

Research carried out by Kahai et al (1997) differed from this view. In findings there

was no difference in the frequency of supportive remarks or critical remarks in teams

working with participative and with autocratic (directive superior). Hence suggesting

that workers or employees cease to notice a difference between these leadership styles

and are able to respond to both forms which subsequently cast doubt over the values of

22  

leadership styles. However Robbins and Judge (2009) views that democratic style seeks

to build team and provides for interest of team through consensus measuring and input

encouragement. Additionally leaders of democratic style become involved and show

concern for the workers lives (Robbin and Judge 2009). This spirit of showing concern

for the workers lives is likely to improve employee access to their rights because access

to their rights directly touches on their lives.

Locke and Schweiger (1979) points out that democratic leadership as a basic concept

involves any power sharing arrangements in which work place influence is shared

among individuals who are otherwise hierarchical unequal’s. Such power sharing

arrangements may entails various employee involvement schemes resulting in co-

determination of working condition problem solving and decision making.

When the employees are involved in co-determination of working conditions it’s in

itself a very important employee right to work in safe and healthy environment and as

such the employees can suggest ways of making their working environment better and

conducive. Shared decision making and problem solving will enable employee to

address issues to do with access to their rights in an available way with their employers.

Democratic leadership style make s use of participative decision making (PDM) which

refers to the extent to which employers allows or encourage employees to share or

participate in organizational decision making (Probst 2005). The primary aims of PDM

is for the organization to benefit from the perceived motivational effects of increased

employee involvement Clark (2007).

23  

When employees participate in the decision making process. They improve

understanding and perception among colleagues and superiors and enhance personal

value in the organization Probst (2005). Where there is increased personell value then

the needs of the same personnel ought to be met and in most cases in the work

environment these needs revolve around the employees rights. According to Rowan

(1997), the principles of democratic leadership are flexibly applied in order to create a

climate in which all stakeholders are able to express themselves freely and hence feel

that they are part of the democratic decision making process. Rowan argues that

students, teachers and parents need to feel that they are able to have an influence over

what should happen at the school rather than to be subjected to the decisions of those

placed in positions of hierarchical power. This study attempted to determine the

influence of democratic leadership style on employee access to their rights.

Okumbe (1998) states that democratic leadership rests on the idea that workers should

be involved in the making policies. It considers the needs, interests rights and freedom

of workers. He notes that the management influenced but did not dominate the

subordinates. It offered suggestions rather than issuing orders.

Newstrong and Keith (1993) note that democratic leadership style is normally used

when the leader has part of the information and the employees have other parts. The

leader does not know everything. Using democratic style is of mutual benefit since it

allowed employees to become part of the team and allowed the leader to make better

decisions. Goodworth (1999) describes a democratic leader as one who makes

decisions by consulting his team while still maintaining control of the group. The

24  

democratic leader allows his team to decide how the task could be tackled and who will

perform which task.

Okumbe (1998) using McGregor’s theory describes a democratic leader as a theory Y.

This leader believes that work was a natural phenomenon, and if the conditions were

favourable people would not only accept responsibility, but also seek it. He also

believes that if people were committed to organizational objectives, they would

exercise self-direction and self-control. He also point out that commitment was a

function of the rewards associated with goal attainment. He further states that a

democratic leader uses a lot of influence, allows autonomy and avoids imposing his

will on subordinates. Authority in democratic leadership is decentralized and

subordinates participate in decision making. The democratic leader believes that

people are motivated by higher level needs for social interaction, achievement and self

actualization. From Okumbes point of view it can be implied that a democratic leader

can facilitate access to employees rights because he does not impose his will on

subordinates and therefore may listen to their views.

Okumbe (1998) identifies the advantages of democratic leadership style as: promoting

high morale among workers, giving workers, freedom to exercise their responsibilities

and facilitating flexibility in the organizations. Its this flexibility that employees need

especially when dealing with issues that affect access to their rights.

2.3 Laissez-faire leadership styles and employee access to their rights

Nzuve (1999) describes Laissez faire leadership style as one where the leader waives

responsibility and allows subordinates to work as they choose with minimum

25  

interference. The employees are given the authority to make decisions or determine a

course of action. Within the limits of authority given, the subordinates structure their

own activities. They may consult the manager directly involved in making the

decisions. The manager indicates what needs to be done and when it must be

accomplished but let employees decide how to accomplish it as they wished. In this

style of leadership, communication flows horizontally among group members

Veccio (1988) explains Laissez-faire as a French expression meaning “Lead it alone”.

He notes that subordinates are given total freedom to select their own objectives and

monitor their own work. Goodworth (1998) points out that Laissez –faire style was

usually appropriate when leading a team of highly motivated and skilled people who

had produced excellent results in the past. Once a leader had established that his team

was confidant, capable and motivated. It was often best to step back and let them get

on with the task, since interfering could generate resentment and detract their

effectiveness. By handing over ownership a leader could empower his group to achieve

their goals.

Okumbe (1998) describes Laissez-faire leadership as a kind of leadership which

encourages no rules in the organization. It has no code of regulations. The leader is

simply a symbol since there is no hierarchy of authority and the primary role of the

leader is to supply materials needed by the group. Okumbe (1998) identifies the

advantages of Laissez – faire leadership as: facilitating easy acceptance of decisions

and employees providing their own motivation. However he points out that it is

disadvantageous, since there is no control and chaos and conflict arise due to unguided

freedom. There is also a high rate of unhealthy competition among members of the

26  

organization. Lewin in his studies pointed out that Laissez-faire style of leadership

offered little or no guidance to group members and leaves decisions making, upto group

members. He notes that this style is effective in situations where group members are

highly qualified in an area of expertise. He points out that this style leads to poorly

defined roles and lack of motivation.

The laissez-faire leader allows the group complete freedom for decision making

without participating himself or herself. This type provides materials and offers to assist

only by request. The laissez- faire leader does not participate in work discussion unless

asked directly and does not participate or intervene in activities.

The laissez-faire allows independence but discourages team building and shows no

concern for workers needs or welfare (Robbins and Judge 2009). The lack of concern

for the employees or workers needs and welfare impacts negatively on employees

access to their rights because for them to access their rights there is need for support

and concern from the leaders or the management. This support can be informed of

goodwill, material or financial support from the leader. Johnson and Hackman (2003)

argues that laissez-faire leaders allows followers to have complete freedom make

decisions concerning a high degree of autonomy and self-rule while at the same time

offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-faire leadership style is a

“hands off” type and if the leader withdraws too much from the followers it can

sometimes result in lack of cohesiveness which is needed in accessing employee rights

for example joining a trade union.

27  

While the conventional term of Laissez-faire leadership style implies a hands off

approach, many leaders still maintain open communication and are available to group

members for consultation and feedback (Cherry, 2011). It has limitations in that some

people are not good at setting their own deadlines, managing their own projects and

solving problems on their own. In such situations, projects can stall and deadlines can

be missed when employees do not get enough guidance or feedback from leaders. The

leader accepts wholesome responsibility for many of the decisions that come to fruition,

though the decision making has been left to employees. The most pitfall and

shortcoming of this style is failure.

2.4 Charismatic leadership style and employee access to their rights

Max Weber a German Sociologist described charismatic leadership as “a specific

personality charismatic that results a person exceptional powers that results in the

person being treated as a leader”.

House(1994) published a theory of charismatic leadership within which he described

the personal characteristic of this type of leader as “being dominant”, having a strong

desire to influence others, being self confident, and having a strong sense of one’s own

moral values Northouse (2007)

From the characteristics of a charismatic leader, its evident that such a leader may listen

to employee grievances because of having a strong desire to influence others and by so

doing may facilitate access to their rights. Self-confidence is the key to charismatic

leadership style and leaders are confident, will their decisions which reflect personality.

28  

This explains the reason why employees can be confident that their leader would do the

right thing including protecting their labor rights.

According to Hearst newspaper (2013) it points out that while many charismatic leaders

are able to win over the employees those who take on the role for self-serving reasons

may fail to get all employees to buy their intensions. Charisma alone is not enough to

make a quality leader for a company.

The leader must have the best intentions of the company at heart and have other

leadership quantities to back up charisma, employees care often able to pick up on the

fact that a charismatic leader only cares about his own success or lacks the knowledge

to actually run the company.

This view therefore contrasts House view as it points out that this leadership style can

be abused for personal interests and if that happens then employee access to their rights

may be negatively influenced. Charismatic leadership styles have its roots in trait

theories which urge that effective leaders share a number of common personality

characteristics or “traits”. Traits theories help us indentify traits and qualities that are

helpful in leading others. However, none of these traits or any specific combination of

them may guarantee success as a leader.

The usefulness of leadership style is undermined by the lack of an optimal style in all

situations. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that leaders have back – up strategies

Blake R. R and mouton J. S (1975). As opposed to debating which style is superlative,

29  

it may be sensible to advocate the notion that style could complement one another

Sagine, A (1997).

2.5 Summary of review of Literature

The reviewed literature gave a working definition of leadership for the purpose of this

study as the process of a person in authority influencing the subordinates in order to

achieve specific goals in specific situations. Leadership was defined as a consisted

combination of individuals behaivours attitudes towards group member in order to

achieve goals Hackman and Johnson (2009). The literature reviewed four leadership

styles: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and charismatic leadership.

Under autocratic leadership the leader dictates policies and procedures, decides what

goals are to be achieved, directs and controls all activities without meaningful

participation of subordinates. The leader makes all decisions and passes the directives

of subordinates who are expected to carry those at under very close supervision. In

democratic leadership its characterized by a structured but cooperative approach to

decision making. It focuses on group relationships and sensitivity to the people in the

organization/Brennen, 2011). Workers were involved in decision making and this

promoted a high morale among the workers. In the Laissez-faire leadership style, the

leader waived responsibility and allowed workers to work as they chose with minimum

interference. As for charismatic leadership style, the leader displays specific

personality characteristics that result in a person having exceptional powers these

results in a person being treated as a “leader”.

30  

The advantages and disadvantages of each leadership style were also discussed. As for

charismatic leadership it was observed that a leader had to have other leadership

qualities to back up charisma, since charisma alone is not enough to make a quality

leader.

2.6 Theoretical framework

The theoretical basis of this study is on path-goal theory, also known as the path- goal

theory of leader effectiveness or path-goal model developed by Robert House in 1971

and revised in 1996.The theory states that leaders’ behavior is contingent to the

satisfaction, motivation, and performance of his or her subordinates. The theory was

inspired by the work of Martin G Evans (1970) in which the leadership behavior and

followers perceptions of the degree to which following particular behavior (path) will

lead to particular outcome (goal).

The path-goal theory assumes that leaders are flexible and that they can change their

style as situation require. The theory proposes two contingency variable such as

environmental and followers characteristics, that moderates leader behavior outcome

relationship. Environment factors determine the type of leader behavior required if the

follower outcomes are to be maximized. The followers’ characteristics are locus of

control, experience and perceived ability. Effective leader clarify the path to help their

followers achieve goals and make the journey easier by reducing roadblocks and

pitfalls. According to Northouse (2007) the theory is useful because it reminds leaders

that their central purpose as a leader is to help subordinate define and reach their goals

in an efficient manner.

31  

This study then will be modeled on the postulates of path-goal theory where the leader

in secondary schools shows the path through leadership style of autocratic, democratic,

laissez-faire and charismatic, while the follower or employees are guided to achieve

their goals which will be characterized by non discrimination, compensation benefits,

health and safe working environment and freedom to join a trade union. The

intervening variables include age of the leader, education qualifications training, and

environment and followers characteristics.

2.6 Conceptual framework

 

Leadership styles

Autocratic Democratic Laissez-faire Charismatic

Application of leadership styles ideologies in enabling employees to access: - Non discrimination - Compensation - Safe and healthy working environment - Freedom to join a trade union.

Employee rights

32  

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter covers the description of methods that were used to carry out the study. It

contains the following subsections, research design, target population, sample size and

sampling procedures, research instruments reliability, instruments validity, data

collection procedures and analysis techniques.

3.2 Research design

The study adopted the descriptive survey design to study the influence of Head

teacher’s leadership style on employee’s access to their rights in secondary schools.

According to Cohen and Manion (1989) surveys gather data at a particular point in time

with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions or identifying

standards against which existing conditions can be compared or determining the

relationships that exist between events.

This method is the most appropriate for this study because the study on the influence of

head teachers’ leadership style on employees access to their rights a describes the

nature of existing conditions and also determine how leadership style influence access

to employee rights.

33  

3.3 Target populations.

The target population consisted of all the 254 teachers in public secondary schools

employed by TSC and board of governors and 120 support staff in Nandi East District .

According to Oso and Onen (2009) the target population refers to the total number of

subjects or the total environment of interest to the research. Mugenda and Mugenda

(1999) looks at a target population as that proportion which a researcher wants to

generalize results

3.4 Sample size and sampling procedure

A sample is part of the target (or accessible) population that has been procedurally

selected to represent it.Oso and Onen (2009), says that a sample is a smaller group or

subject of the population in which a researcher endeavors to the collect information in

such a way that the knowledge gained is a representation of the total population under

study. Stratified sampling was used to categories schools into groups with similar

characteristics of boy schools, girl’s schools and mixed schools. This enabled the

researcher to get respondents from each category of these schools.

The sample consisted of 127 teachers, 60 support staff representing 50% of the target

population. Gay,LR (1992) suggests that at least 10% of the population is a good

representation where the population is larger and 20% where the population is small

therefore 50% was a good representation of the target population. Stratified sampling

was used to select schools where employees come from. Stratified sampling involves

dividing the population into homogenous groups, each group containing subjects with

34  

similar characteristics Cohen and Manion (1989).Employees were selected from Girls

school, Boys school and mixed schools using stratified sampling techniques.10 schools

were selected from the 20 schools in the district.

Simple random sampling was used to select employees from the schools that had

already been chosen. This method is suitable because, due to probability and chance the

sample should contain subjects with characteristics similar to the population as a whole.

Using random sampling enabled the researcher to obtain a sample that was a replica of

the target population.

3.5 Research Instruments

The instruments that were used to collect data in this study were questionnaires.

Questionnaires were used as the main tool of collecting data from teachers and support

staff. The selection of this instrument was guided by the time available and the

objectives of the study. Using a questionnaire saves time as it can be administered to

several respondents at the same time. The researcher was also concerned on getting the

opinions, perceptions, feelings and attitudes of employees on how leadership styles

influence access to their rights, such information can be best obtained through the use

of questionnaires.

Questionnaires were useful in this study since the variables understudy could not be

observed directly. The samples size of 127 teachers and 60 support staffs was also quite

large given the time constraints, questionnaires is the ideal tool for collecting data. The

35  

target population was believed to be literate and no difficulties were anticipated in

responding to questionnaires.

Two questionnaires were used, one for teachers and the second one for support staffs.

All questionnaires consisted of both closed and open ended questions.

3.6 Validity of the instruments

Validity of the instruments refers to the extent to which the research instruments

measure what they are intended to measure Oso and Onen (2008). To establish the

validity, the researcher prepared the instrument in close consultation with the

supervisors who evaluated the relevance of each item in the instrument to the

objectives.The instruments was given to two experts to evaluate the relevance of each

item in instrumt the to the the objectives and rate them on a scale of very relevant (4)

relevant(3) somewhat relevant(2) and not relevant (1).Validity was determined using

validity index (C.V.I).Validity= items rated 3 or 4 by both judges divided by the total

items in the questionnaire. The researcher obtained a validity index of 0.75 or 75%

which enabled the instrument to be accepted as valid Validity was determined using

content validity. The supervisors gave expert judgment which helped in proving the

validity of the instruments and this gave rationale for the choice of this technique.

3.7 Reliability of Instruments

Reliability of the instruments refers to the consistency of an instrument to give similar

results whenever is it is administered, Oso and Onen (2008). The instruments were

piloted in 3 schools not included in the study sample. The pilot group were selected

36  

using stratified sampling to include one boy’s school, one mixed school and one girl’s

school. 5 teachers and 2 support staffs were selected using simple random sampling

from the three schools to participate in the pilot study. Piloting ensures that the research

instruments are clearly tested and modified to improve their reliability.

The questionnaires were administered by the researcher because by doing so, she

ensured that the respondents were assured of confidentiality for them to give relevant

information. The test-retest reliability was used where the questionnaires were

administered to the pilot group and after two weeks the instrument was administered to

the same individuals. A correlation coefficient calculated using parsons product

moment correlation coefficient to determine how closely the participants responses on

the second occasion matched their responses on the first occasion. The following

Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient formula was used.

r   

where:

∑x = Sum of scores in x distribution

∑y = sum of scores in the y distribution

∑x2 = sum of squared scores in x distribution

∑y2 = sum of squared scores in x distribution

∑xy = sum of the product of point x and y scores.

37  

N = the number of point x and y scores.

A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was realized for the teachers and 0.83 for the support

staff, thus making the instrument reliable. The reliability correlation coefficient ranges

from -1and +1.

3.8 Data collection Procedure.

Once the proposal was ready, the research got an introductory letter from the University

of Nairobi department of Education and external studies to enable her get a research

permit from the National Council of Science and technology. The researcher then paid

a courtesy call to the area District Commissioner (DC) and the District Education

Officer (D.E.O) to inform them on the research to be carried out.

Once that was done, the researcher conducted respondents and collected data from one

eighty seven respondents from a target population of three hundred and seventy four in

period of one month.

3.9 Data analysis and techniques.

Data analysis entails separation of data into constituent parts or elements and

examination of the data to distinguish its components parts or elements separately and

in relation to the whole.

Once data was collected from the respondents, it went through data reduction by

categorizing manually according to questionnaire items and using frequency

distribution tables and percentages. Data was collected in form of strongly agree, agree,

disagree, strongly disagree yes or no, from the questionnaires administered by the

38  

researcher. Frequency tables were constructed and each response from the

questionnaire item was tallied on a frequency table. The responses of all the

respondents in each school were pooled together to get the overall tally of the responses

according to the categories of the responses. The tally of the various responses was then

converted into percentages by expressing each tally as a fraction of the total. These

methods are appropriate for this study because they can easily be understood by many

readers when results are presented in that manner. Coding of data will be done so that it

can easily be computerized using statistical packages for social science (SPSS). Using

SPSS is very appropriate because it’s time saving and can handle a lot of data at the

same time.

Qualitative data was analyzed by description of participant responses and sorting out

open questions into broad themes, discussions, comparing and contrasting. Quantitative

data obtained from closed questions on the questionnaire were coded and analyzed

using percentages and frequency distribution

39  

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents findings of the study. The responses from the respondents were

compiled into frequencies and converted into percentages and presented in tabular

form. The analysis was done based on each question asked by the researcher in the

questionnaires. The findings and interpretation were done on the basis of study

objectives and research questions. The findings from the open ended questions were

categorized and findings presented in frequency and percentage tables.

The findings were categorized into two:

The teachers’ responses and the support staff responses. This was to facilitate analysis

and understanding of the influence of headteachers leadership styles on employee

access to the rights of non discrimination freedom to join a trade union, working in a

safe and health environment and compensation.

4.2. Questionnaire return rate

The researcher had targeted 127 teachers for the study from 10 schools sampled in the

district out of which 116 participated forming 91% return rate. in the case of support

staff the researcher targeted a total of 60 support staff and 48 participated forming 80%

return rate.

40  

According to Hartman and Headborn (1979) a return rate of 50% is adequate, 60% is

good and 70% or more is very good. The average return rate for this study was 88%

hence very good.

4.3. Demographic characteristics of teachers

(i) The respondents were asked to indicate their gender. This was meant to

establish whether there was equal representation of all the genders. Their

responses are shown in figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Distribution of teachers according to gender

41  

This information on distribution of teachers according to gender is important to this

study because information on employee rights for example the right to non-

discrimination can be based on gender and therefore it was important to get a

representation of both genders in the study to be able to get opinions on this right.

Most of the teachers who responded in this study were males and this disparity on

gender might have influenced their views on the right to non discrimination in the work

place.

4.3.1. Distribution of teachers according to teaching experience in the institution

Teachers were asked to indicate the period they had worked in their stations. This was

meant to establish if they had had long experience to point out cases of inability to

access their rights. The data collected is presented in table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Distribution of teachers according to teaching experience

Working experiences in

years

Frequency Percentage

1-5 79 68.1

6-10 23 19.8

11-15 8 6.9

16-above 6 5.2

42  

The study shows that majority of the teachers had worked in their institution between 1

and 5 years indicating that most of them are still in their active years. Information on

the work experience of teachers is important to this study because it will indicate

whether they have been in the school long enough to tell the leadership style of their

headteachers. Teachers who have worked for a short period in a school may not have

been employed by TSC and their terms of service are different, thus affecting access to

their rights.

4.3.2. Distribution of teachers according to type of school

Teachers were asked to identity the type of school whether it was a mixed school, boys’

school, girls’ school with an aim of finding out whether all the categories of schools

were equally represented as per the sample. Table 4.2 shows the data that was

collected.

Table 4.2 Distribution of teachers according to type of school

Type of school Frequency Percentage

Mixed school 52 44.8

Boy school 33 28.4

Girls school 30 25.9

Non response 1 0.9

43  

Information on distribution of teachers according to type of school was important to

this study because during the sampling , stratified sampling was used to select schools

where employees came from and this ensured that each type of school participated in

the study.  

4.3.3 Distribution of support staff according to gender

The support staffs were asked to indicate their gender and the following figure shows

the proportion of both genders.

Figure 4.2 Distribution of support staff according to gender

From the above findings, there are more male support staff at 54.25% while the females

were 45.8%, this could be attributed to the fact that jobs like security personnel and

gardeners in the institutions were dominated by males while the females shunned such

jobs.

44  

4.3.4. Distribution of support staff according to work experience in the institution

Support staff were asked to indicate their working experience in their institutions and

their responses are contained in table 4.3.

Table 4.3 Distribution of support staff according to work experience

Work experience Frequency Percentage

1-5 18 37.5

6-10 11 22.9

11-45 8 16.6

16 and above 4 8.4

Non response 7 14.6

Most of the support staff who responded in the study indicates that they have worked in

their institution between a period of 1 to 5 years. This could be attributed to the fact

that most of them are not permanent in employment and work on contract. Some of

them also resign to seek for better remuneration in other sectors.

This information is important to this study because if employees cant access their rights

the retention rates will be low and turnover rates will be high and therefore schools will

be forced to employ new staff every now and then.

45  

4.4 Autocratic leadership style and employee access to their rights.

The first objective of this study was to establish how autocratic leadership style

influences employee access to their rights. This objective was guided by the following

research question: How does autocratic leadership style influence employees access to

their rights?

In order to achieve this objective teachers and support staff were asked to identify the

leadership style of their headteacher after which they responded to questions on non

discrimination, working in a safe and healthy environment, access to compensation

when injured in the workplace and freedom to join a trade union. The responses of

teachers and support staff on identification of leadership style of their headteacher is

shown in the figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3 Leadership styles .

46  

Majority of the employees choose democratic leadership style as being used by their

head teachers. A smaller percentage indicated that their head teachers were autocratic ,

implying that most headteachers are shifting from autocratic leadership style to

democratic.

The research attempted to find out the different leadership styles used by head teachers

in public secondary schools in Nandi East District. The following figure illustrates the

findings.

Figure 4.4. Teachers and support staff distribution according to choice of

leadership style.

Majority of the teachers choose democratic leadership as the more popular leadership

style used in their institutions while a higher percentage of support staff choose laissez-

47  

faire leadership style . This information is important to this study as it shows the

variation of understanding of leadership styles between the teachers and support staff

one of assumptions of the study was that the respondents understand the different

leadership styles of their head teachers.

Teachers and support staff were asked to respond to questions on access to their rights

of non discrimination, compensation, safe and health working environment and

freedom to join a trade union. The findings were as follows.

Table 4.4 views of teachers on autocratic leadership style and access to their

rights.

Strongly agree

F %

Agree

F %

Disagree

F %

Strongly

disagree

F %

Non discrimination

of employees

1 3.4 13 44.8 5 17.2 10 34.5

Compensation 0 0 7 24.1 12 41.3 8 27.5

Working

Environment is safe

& health

1 3.4 17 58.6 6 20.6 5 17.2

Freedom to join a

trade union

11 37.9 14 48.2 1 3.4 1 3.4

48  

As evidenced from table 4.4 majority of teachers indicated that they could access the

rights of non-discrimination, working in a safe and healthy environment and freedom to

join a trade union. These findings suggest that headteachers using autocratic leadership

style played a minimal role in facilitating compensation incase a teacher is injured in

the work place.

Support staff were asked to give their views on the influence of autocratic leadership

style on the right of non-discrimination, working in a safe and healthy environment,

freedom to join a trade union, and compensation when injured in their work place.

Their responses are contained in table 4.5.

Table 4.5 Reponses of support staff on autocratic leadership style and employee

access to their rights.

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

Employees not discriminated 5 62.5 2 25

Safe and health working

environment

6 75 2 25

Member of trade union 0 0 9 100

Workers compensated by the

school when injured

2 25 6 25

Difficulty in accessing rights 2 25 6 75

A higher percentage of support staff indicated that there was no discrimination of

employees in their institutions that were led by autocratic leaders. This contrasts with

49  

the teachers which had a higher percentage in the category of those who disagreed and

strongly disagreed that there was no discrimination in their work places.

This implies that the autocratic head teachers may vary in the way they treat the

teachers and support staff and thus the variation.

From the findings also the teachers and support staff had a high percentage indicating

that the teachers don’t facilitate compensation whenever members are injured in the

work place. This implies that autocratic leaders use their power to achieve their

personal objectives and goals and those of the institution without paying much attention

to the rights of the employees. This is in agreement with Mullins (1998) who pointed

out that the influence of leadership will differ according to the type of power used by

the leader over their subordinates, hence leaders will be more effective when they know

and understand the appropriate usage of power (Hersey et. Al 2001).

The findings from the study indicate that autocratic leaders played a minimal role in

facilitating employee access to the rights of compensation and non-discrimination for

the teachers. These two rights are greatly influenced by the leadership style while the

right to a safe working environment and freedom to join a trade union may be

influenced by other factors for example the safety standards given by the Ministry of

Education to schools.

The teachers and support staff were also asked to give their views on what they think

should be dome to facilitate access to employee nights on Nandi East and they pointed

out that is need to have open forums between the head teacher and employees in order

50  

to discuss their grievances openly. They also felt that there was need to educate the

employees on their right because most of the support staff didn’t belong to a trade

union and they had no information on how they can be members of ones. The autocratic

leader seems affect employee access to their rights and this is in agreement with Chen

and Silverthorns (2005) who pointed out that leadership style affects a range of factors

as job satisfaction, performance turnover intention and stress

Studies carried out by Locke (1976) on leadership styles and employee job satisfaction

suggested that autocratic leadership leads to lower levels of job satisfaction which is

related to the lower levels of employees access to their rights under autocratic

leadership. By implication an employee who is having a lower job satisfaction could be

having a problem with access to their rights.

4.5 Democratic leadership style and employee access to their rights.

The second objective in the study was to the determine the influence of democratic

leadership style on employees access to their rights. To achieve this objective, the

respondents were asked to respond to questions on the type of leadership style of their

headteacher, access to non discrimination, working in a safe and healthy environment,

compensation incase of injury and freedom to join a trade union. Their responses are

shown in table 4.6.

51  

Table 4.6 Teachers responses on democratic leadership style

Strongly agree

F %

Agree

F

%

Disagree

F %

Strongly

disagree .

F

%

Non

response

F %

Access to non

discrimination

7 14.6 36 75 2 4.2 1 2.1 2 4.1

Compensation

when injured in

work place

3 6.2 28 58.3 7 14.6 5 9.4 6 11.5

Access to health

and safe working

environment

6 11.3 34 70.8 3 6.2 2 4.0 4 7.5

Freedom to join a

trade union

24 50 19 39.5 1 2.1 4 8.4 0 0

4.6 Responses of support staff on democratic leadership style and access to

their rights

In the questionnaire for the support staff, they were required to respond to questions on

non-discrimination, safe and healthy working environment, freedom to membership of

52  

a trade union, and compensation incase of injury. Their responses are presented in

table 4.7.

Table 4.7 Responses of support staff on democratic leadership style and access to

their rights.

Yes

F %

No

F %

Non response

F %

Employee access to non discrimination 14 77.8 2 11.1 2 11.1

Safe and health working environment 17 94.4 1 5.6 0 0

Membership to trade union 1 5.6 17 94.4 0 0

Workers compensated upon injury in the

school

13 72.2 4 22.2 1 5.6

Deficiency in accessing their rights 16 88.9 2 11.1 0 0

From the findings a high percentage of teachers indicated that they could access their

rights under the democratic leadership style, while the results of the support staff were

consistent with those of teachers the support staff indicated that a high percentage were

not members of a trade union. This implies that even through democratic leadership

styles gives room to the views of employees it didn’t do much to enable the support

staff to join trade unions. This may be attributed to the fact that the support staff are

paid directly from the school and therefore irrespective of the leadership style used by

the head teachers, there was fear that the trade unions might agitate for high salaries for

the support staff of which the schools might not afford. This indeed could make the

53  

head teachers to be silent on the issue of trade union for support staff and wish a way

the idea.

High percentage of employee indicating that they could access their rights without

much restriction under democratic leadership style is consistent with the reviews of

Robbins and Judge (2009) that democratic leadership style seeks to build teams and

provides for interest of team through consensus measuring and input encouragement.

This type of leadership style was the most popular among the others. This is consistent

with the findings of Yousef (1998) that assumed that a consultative (democratic) style

prevailed in studies carried out in non –Western countries particularly in Arab

countries. In contrast Al-Hajjeh (1984) assumed that Middle Eastern managers

encouraged autocratic leadership, as they had a negative impression about the ability of

subordinated.

However this finding contrast Kahai et al (1997) who indicated that there was no

difference in the frequency of support remarks or critical remarks in teams working

participative(democratic and with autocratic ( directive superior) .This is indicates that

workers don’t find difference in the leadership styles.

Leadership styles influence employee access to their rights to some extend as a similar

pattern is shown in other related studies. Results from several studies indicates that

there is a relationship between perceived leadership style and job satisfaction of

subordinate, job satisfaction implies that the employee is contented with access to the

right in the work place Chiok Foong loke (2001) found that leadership behavours

54  

explain 29% of job satisfaction and Lucas (1991) that leaders style perceptions

predicted 36.6% of the variance in job satisfaction scores among nurses.

Teachers and support staff were asked to give their opinions on the measures that can

be taken to facilitate employees access to their rights in Nandi East and they suggested

that employee rights should be clearly stated in the school constitution and that incase

of violation of employee rights, there should be redress.

They also indicated that some employees were not aware of their rights and that there

was need for head teachers to organize workshops and meetings to sensitize employees

on their rights – from these findings its evident that both the teachers and support staff

still felt that although democratic leadership style facilitate access to that rights, not

much has been done in addressing the complaint raised by employers regarding the

need of a trade union for support staff and redress incase rights are violated

4.7 Laissez – Faire leadership style and employee access to their rights.

The third objectives of this study was to investigate the influence of laissez -faire

leadership style on employee access to their rights. To achieve this objective teachers

and support staff were asked to identify the leadership style of their head teaches and

the following table shows the findings.

55  

Table 4.8 Leadership styles

Teacher Support staff Teachers and

support staff

Leadership style F % F % F %

Democratic 48 41.4 18 37.5 66 40.2

Autocratic 29 25% 8 17.7% 37 22.6

Laisses Faire 29 25% 20 41.7 49 29.9

Charnmatic 10 8.6% 2 4.1% 12 7.3%

Total 116 100 48 100 164 100

Most of the support staff indicated that their head teacher was a laissez – faire leader.

This high percentage could be attributed to the fact that some of the support staff did

not understand very well the difference in the leadership styles and may have

influenced each other during the filling of the questionnaires.

Teachers and support staff were asked to give their responses on their access to rights

of non – discrimination compensation health and safe working environment and

freedom to join a trade union. The following table shows their responses.

56  

4.8 Teachers’ responses on the influence of Laissez- faire leadership style on

employee access to their right

The teachers who had identified that their headteachers used laissez-faire leadership

style responded to the questions on non-discrimination, working in a safe and healthy

environment, compensation incase of injury and freedom to join a trade union. The aim

of this was to find out the influence of laissez-faire leadership style on their rights. The

findings are shown in table 4.9.

Table 4.9 – Teachers Responses on employee access to their rights

S.A A D S.D

F % F % F % F %

Non Discrimination 5 17.2 13 44.8 7 24.2 4 13.8

Compensation 5 17.2 8 27.6 12. 41.4 4 13.3

Safe and health working environment

6 20.7 12 41.4 6 20.7 5 17.2

Freedom to join a

trade union

12 41.4 9 31.0 4 13.8 4 13.8

4.9 Support staff responses on Laissez- faire leadership style and employee

access to their rights

Support staff were also asked to indicate whether they could access the rights of non

discrimination, compensation incase of injury in the work place, working in a safe and

57  

healthy working environment, freedom to join a trade union under laissez-faire

leadership which they had identified. Their responses are shown in table 4.10.

Table 4.10 Support Staff responses on Laisses faire leadership style

Yes No

F % F %

Non discrimination 15 75 5 25

Compensation 8 40 10 50

Safe and health working

environment

18 90 1 5

Freedom to join trade union 0 0 19 95

Most of the teachers and support staff indicated that under laissez- faire leadership

style they could access their rights of non discrimination access to safe and health

working environment. As for access to compensation and joining a trade union a high

percentage in both cases indicate that they had difficulty in accessing these rights this

implies that since laissez – faire is a hands –off approach the teachers and support staff

couldn’t have a leader to facilitate access to compensation and advice on joining a

trade union. This is consistent with the views of Robbins and judge (2009) who noted

that laissez- faire leaders allows independence but discourages team building and shows

no concern for workers needs or welfare.

58  

This findings are also consistent with the views of Bass (1990) in a study of employee

level of job satisfaction which indicate that the level of job satisfaction under laissez –

faire leadership is less than under democratic leadership . Erkutlu and Chafra (2006)

found that laissez – faire leadership style in a boutique hotel led to negative results in

organizational performance such as low satisfaction, high stress, and low commitment

by follows .

Although laissez –faire leadership style allows employees freedom the findings

indicates that this freedom could not enable employee to access certain rights which

required the input of a leader this is consistent with the views of Berkowitz( 1954) who

pointed out that laissez –faire approached encourages independence of followers and

rarely contributed to the methods of output.

4.10 Charismatic leadership and employee access to their rights.

The fourth objective of this study was to determine the influence of charismatic

leadership style on employee access to their rights, to achieve this objective

respondents were asked to indentify the leadership style of their head teachers. Their

responses are shown in figure 4.5.

59  

Fig 4.5 Choice of leadership style

4.11 Teachers responses on charismatic leadership style and employee access to

their rights.

The responses of the teachers on charismatic leadership style and its influence on the

rights of non-discrimination, compensation, access to safe and healthy working

environment and freedom to join a trade union are contained in table 4.11

60  

Table 4.11 Teachers response on charismatic leadership style.

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly

disagree

F % F % F % F %

Non Discrimination 5 50 5 50 0 0 0 0

Compensation 2 20 3 30 5 50 0 0

Access to safe and

health environment

2 20 6 60 2 20 0 0

Freedom join a trade

union

4 40 6 60 0 0 0 0

From the findings a small number of respondents indicates that their Head teachers

used charismatic leadership style. This could be attributed to the fact that charismatic

leadership qualities are not common and not easy to come by.

From the finding all the respondents forming 100% indicates that they were not

discriminated in their work place while over 50% indicated that they could access the

other rights of compensation, working in a safe and health working environment an

freedom to join a trade union. This implies that a charismatic leaders plays a vital role

in facilitating employee access to their rights since majority of the respondents who

61  

identified this leadership style pointed out that they had no limitations in accessing

their rights .

This findings are consistent with the views of Max Weber a German sociologist who

described a charismatic leaders as one with specifies personality charisma that result in

a person having exceptional powers that result in being treated as a leader while the

other type of leadership showed variation in terms of how employees rated the head

teachers and access to their rights the charismatic leaders seemed exceptional in

positively influencing employees to access their rights. The charismatic leaders has full

of energy and provide environment with positive reinforcement. This kinds of

leadership is a talent and not everyone has it subordinate follow their leader since they

are inspired and encouraged to do their best. Their talents are developed and skills are

enhanced. With these employees tend to work hard to impress their leader and struggle

to get to the top, Bass (1990).

These findings are consistent with traits theories which proposes that successful

leadership is derived from possession of certain characteristics such as “ Drive, honest,

integrity and self confidence rather then style Kirkpatrick and locke (1991).However

the findings of Khurana (2002) contrasts with this as he points out that the possession

of charisma can often lead to a corporation hiring inappropriate candidates.

62  

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction

This chapter presents a summary of the study, conclusion and recommendations for

possible action and areas of further research

5.1 Summary

The researcher embarked on finding out the influence of headteachers leadership styles

on employees in secondary schools access to their rights in Nandi East district.

The study was based on four objectives.

i) To establish how autocratic leadership style influences access to their rights.

ii) To determine the influence of democratic leadership style on employee access

to their rights.

iii) To investigate the influence of Laissez Faire leadership style on employee’s

access to their rights.

iv) To determine the influence of charismatic leadership style on employee access

to their rights.

To achieve the objectives the research formulated four research questions based on the

research objectives. The researcher used two questionnaires to collect data from

teachers and support staff from 10 sampled schools in Nandi East. From the

63  

questionnaires a return rate of 91% was realized from the targeted 127 teachers. the

questionnaire of the support staff realized a 80% return rate from a target of 60

respondents.

From the findings, the leadership style that was indicated to be used most by the

heateachers in secondary schools was democratic but the highest percentage of support

staff indicated that the headteachers used Laissez – faire leadership style. This implies

that some of the support staff may not understand the differences in the leadership

styles, since the teachers from the same schools indicated a totally different leadership

style. Charismatic leadership was the least chosen by both teachers and support staff at

8.6% and 4.1% respectively. This indicates that charismatic leaders are few and

probably headteachers leadership style range from autocratic to Laissez-faire.

From the findings under autocratic leadership style the highest responses in agreement

to facilitating access to the rights of employees were on freedom to join a trade union

and safe working environment on the side of the teachers. This findings could be

attributed to the fact that there certain requirements of safety in schools from the

Ministry of Education and therefore the headteachers had no choice but to follow.

Teachers could also join trade unions without consulting the headteacher since the

unions are recognized nationally.

As for the rights that the headteacher could influence directly for example non-

discrimination and compensation they indicated with a lower percentage. The findings

further indicated that the democratic leadership style which was the most popular

64  

leadership style had over 60% of the teachers indication that they could access the

rights of non-discrimination, facilitation of compensation, working environment and

freedom to join a trade union. As for the support staff they had the same views with the

teachers except for the right to join a trade union of which 94.4% indicated they had no

trade union to join. The formation of a trade union for support staff seems to be beyond

the control of the headteacher.

From the findings on Laissez faire leadership style, over 60% of the teachers indicated

that they had no problem in accessing the right to non-discrimination freedom to join a

union and safe and health working environment but over 50% indicated that they could

not access compensation incase of injury. The support staff also had an over 50%

disagreement in their access to compensation and joining a union. The two rights of

compensation and freedom requires support from the headteacher and since Liassez –

faire is a hands off approach then employees may have a problem in accessing them.

The findings on charismatic leadership style indicate that over 80% of the teachers and

support staff who identified this leadership style as being used by their headteachers

had no difficulties in accessing all the four rights of non discrimination, compensation,

working in safe and health environment and freedom to join a trade union. This

therefore implies that charismatic leaders take into consideration the rights of their

employees.

5.2. Conclusions

On the basis of the findings of this study, the following conclusions are made.

65  

1) The dominant leadership style used by headteacehers in public secondary

schools in Nandi East is democratic.

2) Discrimination in the workplace is minimal in the schools sampled

3) Teachers have difficulties in accessing compensation incase of injury in the

work place.

4) Support staff don’t have a trade union to champion their rights in public

secondary schools in Nandi East district.

5) Leadership styles influences employee access to the rights of non-

discrimination, compensation working in safe and health environment and

freedom to join a trade union. 

5.3 Recommendations

On the basis of the findings the following recommendations are made:

(1) Headteachers management and leadership skills need to be enhanced through

frequent training to be able to handle human resource in their institutions

positively

(2) There is need to sensitize employees to know their rights and seek redress

incase these rights are violated.

(3) There is also need to form a trade union for support staff in schools to take care

of the welfare of those workers.

66  

(4) Trade unions for teachers like KNUT (Kenya National Union of Teachers) and

KUPPET (Kenya union of Post primary teachers) need to focus on the rights of

the teachers other than concentrating on increment of salary only.

(5) The Ministry of Education need to check the safety standard in schools because

if there are teachers who feel that their working environment is not safe and

health then the student are also at risk. This can be done through regular

inspection of schools.

5.4. Suggestions for further research

Since this study was confined to only 50% of the public secondary schools in Nandi

East there is need to carry out the research on a larger area to be able to apply the

findings nationally.

There is also need to conduct a research on the role of trade unions and their

effectiveness in the education sector because they seem to focus on money day issues

and not other rights of teachers.

There is also need of conducting a research on the viability of forming a trade union for

support staff in secondary schools or incorporate in other trade unions.

67  

REFERENCES.

Al-Hajjeh,A.A.(1984). Managerial leadership and middle Eastern Nationals: Across- cultural study, Dissertation Abstracts International 45(6A).1850.

Amstrong, A. (2002). Human resource management in international context. Chicago: St. Claire Press.

Babakus E el al (2007) The Effect of Perceived Management Concern for Frontline Employers and Customers on Turnover Intentions Moderating Role of Employment Status. Journal of Service Research Vol 9 Isuue 4 pg 356-71

Bass, B.M (1990) , A survey of theory and research ; Handbook of leadership, New York City, USA Free Press.

Blake, R.R and Mouton J.S (1975) An overview of the Grid, Training and development Journal 29(5) may,p.29-36

Brennen , A.M. (2011). Articles and Resources on Educational Administration and Supervision retrieved from http://www.soencouragmeent.org/leadership styles.htm.

Chen,J,&Silverthone,C.(2005).Leadership effectiveness,ledership style and employee readiness;Leadership and organistional development Journal, 26(4):280-288.

Cherry, K (2011). Laissez-fraire leadership. Retrieved from http/psychology. about.com/ed/leadership lairsez-faire leadership htm.

Chiok Foong Loke,J.(2001) leadership behaviours: effects on job satisfaction, productivity and Organizational commitment.J Nurs Manag.Jul; 9(4); 191-204.

Clark, (2007) The effects of leadership styles on Hotel employees commitment to services and quality; Cornell hospitality quarterly Vol.50 issues 2 Pg. 209

Cohen L and Manion L,(1989) Research methods in Education 3rd edition 11 New Fetter lanes,London EC4PEE.

Drucker, P.F (1993) The Practical Management. New York USA. Harper Business.

Enhart, M.G (2004). Leadership and Procedural Justice Climate as Antecedent of Unit Level Organizational Citizenship Performance, Personnel Psychology Vol 57 p61-94.

Erkutlu,H.V.& Chafra,J.(2006).Scale Development: Theory and applications, California:Sage publications Inc

Evans Martin, G (1970) The effects of Supervisory behavior on path-good relationships. Organizational behavior and Human performance( 5) 277-298

68  

Fulani, M. (2001). The meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). New York: Teachers college press.

Goodworth, C.; (1988). The secrets of successful leadership and people management, Heinmann professional publishers.

Hackman, and M.Z & Johnson C.E, (2009) Leadership; A communication Perspective (5th Ed) Long Grove, Il Waveland Press.

Hallinger, P. (2003). Leading Educational Change: Reflections on the practices of instructional and transformational Leadership. Cambridge journal of Education, (33) 3:330-348.

Hearst, (2013) Newspapers Hearst communications, Inc.Houston chronicle,Texas 77210-4260.

Hersey, P&Blanchard,K.H&Jonshon,D. E.(2001)Management of Organisational behviour:Leading Human resources(8th ed).New Jersey prentice hall International,Inc.

Hoopes, J (2003) Technological Revolution and financial Capital, Pearson Publishing Cambridge MA. ISBN 0-7382-0798-5.

House, Robert J.& Mitchal, T.R (1974) Path-goal theory of leadership; Journal of contemporary business 3 1-97.

International Labour Organization (2006); Core Labour Standards Handbook Mannilla. Art 22,convention 29,87,98,205.

Kahais S, Sosik J, and Avolio B.J (1997); The effects of leadership styles and problem structure on work group process and outcomes on electronic melting environment. Personnes psychology 50 (1) March 121-146

Khurana, R(2002) ;The curse of the Superstar C.E.O ; Harvard Business

Kirkpatrick,S.A and Locke,E.A.(1996) Leadership:do traits matter?” Academy of Management Executive,5(2) may,p.48-60.

Koontz, H. and Weihrich, H. (1990). Essentials of management, New Delhi: McGraw-Hill.

Likert R. (1967). The Human organization: its management and value New York McGraw Hill.

Locke, E.A Schwinger D.M (1979) Participation in Decision Making; One more look. Research in Organizational behavior; Journal of Org. Behavio (1) 265-339. Lucas, M.D.(1991).Management style and job satisfaction.J profNurs Mar-Apr7;7(2):119-25.

69  

Locke,E.A.(1976).The nature and cause of job satisfaction. In M.D Dunnette(ed).Handbook of Industrial and Organizational psychology. Chicago:Rand McNally

Matula P.D (2001) Headteachers leadership behavior and students academic performanc in KCSE vihiga district.Unpublished M.Ed project university of Nairobi

McGowan, L. and Miller, p. (2004). Shared Leadership. Refraining the hows and why of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Mugenda O.M and Mugenda A.G (1999) Research methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approches.Nairobi.ACT Presss

Muli,M (2005).Effects of Headteachers management styles on performace in physics at KCSE examination in mutomo division.Kitui district.Unpublished M.Ed Thesis university of Nairobi

Mullins, L.J. (2005=-5) Management and Organizational behavior 7th Ed. London Financial Tithes Pitman Publishing.

Newstrong, and Keith (1993). Human resources management, Industrial relations and achieving management objectives, Macmillan, London. United Kingdom.

Northouse,P.G (2007) Leadership Theory and practice 4th Edition Californian London New Delhi Sage Publishing Inc.

Nzure, N.M. (1999). Elements of Organizational behavior, University of Nairobi Press. Nairobi

Okoth,U.A (2002).A study of the effects of leadership styles on performance in KCSE examination in Nairobi province. Unpublished M.Ed Thesis university of Nairobi A.

Okumbe, J. (1998). Educational Management. Theory and practice. Nairobi: Nairobi University Press.

Oso Y.W and Onen, D (2009) A general guide to writing research proposal and report :Jomo Kenyatta Foundation,Enterprice Road,Industrial Area

Probst ,T.M (2005) Countering the negative effects of job Insecurity through participation , Decision making; Journal of occupation Health Psychology (10) 320-329.

Review 80 (9) Sep. P.60-66) .

Robbines, S.P and Judge T.A (2009) organizational behavior Upper Saddle River NJ. Pearson /Practice Hall from University of Phoenix CJA-473.

Rowan, J. (1997). Academic leaders. Made or born. Journal of Industrial and Commercial Training.

70  

Sababu, B,M (2010) Human resources management and industrial relations Pg 326-329 Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, Enterprise Road Industrial Area, Nairobi.

Sagie,A,(1997) Leader direction and employee participation in decision making: contradictory or compatible practices? Applied psychology: An International Review 46, p.387-452.

Sanfod, P. (1973). Introduction to educational administration, Boston. Ally & Bacon.

Shetty, Y.K. (1970). Leadership and Organisation Character” personnel administration. Vo. 3 No.3 July – Aug. 1970 14-21.

Veccio, R.P. (1988). Organizational behavior, New York: John Wiley and Son. Inc.

Volf, (2010) Miroslave.A common word.Michigan:wm B, Eudmans Co.

Vroom, V.H. (1979). Work and motivation. New York: John Wiley and Son Inc.

Yousef,D.A.(1998).Correlates of perceived leadership styles in a culturally mixed environment. Leadership and Organization Development Journal,19(5):275-284.

71  

APPENDIX I

LETTER OF INTRODUCTION

JEROTICH TERESA

P.O.BOX1 49,

NANDI HILLS

Dear Sir / Madam

RE: LETTER OF INTRODUCTION

I am a post graduate student at the department of Education Administration and

planning in university of Nairobi .I am currently carrying out a research on Influence of

Headteachers leadership styles on secondary school employees access to their rights .

You are kindly requested to take part in the study by filling the questionnaire attached

here with.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours faithfully;

Jerotich Teresa.

72  

APPENDIX II

QUESTIONNAIRES FOR TEACHERS

The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect data on the influence of headteachers

leadership styles and employee access to their rights in Nandi East District. Your

school has been selected as part of the sample.

Instructions

Tick the appropriate box

Section A

1. Please indicate your gender

Male

Female

2. How long have you been teaching since you left college? (in years)

(a.) 1-5

(b.) 6-10

(c. )11-15

(d. )16 and above

3. Indicate the type of school.

(a. ) Mixed School

(b.) Boys School

c. Girls School

73  

SECTION B

4. Which is the leadership style of your head teacher

(a)Autocratic

(b) Democratic

(c.) Leases-Faire

(d) charismatic

5. There is no discrimination of employees in our Institution.

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

c. Disagree

d. Strongly disagree

6. When a teacher gets injured in the work place, the head teacher facilitates the

compensation from the Teachers Service Commission.

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

c. Disagree

d. Strongly disagree

7. The working environment is safe and has no health risks to the teachers.

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

74  

c. Disagree

d. Strongly disagree

8. The head teacher allows teachers to join a trade Union of their choice. a.

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

c. Disagree

d. Strongly disagree

9. How often do you interact with your head teacher?

a. Very frequently

b. Frequently

C. Rarely

d. Never.

10. Have you ever complained to your head teacher about your inability to access

any of your rights as an employee?

I. Yes II. No

a. If Yes, what steps were taken to address your complain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

75  

11. In your own opinion, what measures can be taken to facilitate employee

access to their rights in Nandi East district?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you very much.

76  

APPENDIX III

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE SUPPORT STAFF.

Instructions tick in the appropriate box

Section A (Background of Information)

1. Please indicate your gender (Indicate with a tick[ ]

Male Female

2. How long have you been working in your institution (in years)

a. 1-5 b. 6-10 c. 11-15 d. 16 and above

3. Indicate your work specialization – Tick []

a. Secretary

b. Bursar

c. Accounts Clerk

d. Typist

E. Lab Assistant

F. Office Messenger

G. Others (Specify)………………………………………………………….

77  

SECTION B

4. Identify the leadership style of your headteacher.

a. Autocratic b. Democratic

C. Leases-Faire d Charismatic

5. Employees are not discriminated on any basis in our Institution

Yes No

a. If your answer No, identify the basis of discrimination.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. The working environment is safe and healthy.

Yes No

a. If your answer is No ,identify the health risks that your face in your

working environment

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. Are you a member of trade union?

Yes No

8. Are there any restrictions that inhibit you from joining the trade union? Specify.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Workers are compensated by the school management when they get injured in

the working environment.

78  

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

c. Disagree

d. Strongly disagree

9. How often do you interact with your head teacher in your school?

a. very frequently

b. Frequently

c. Rarely

d. Never.

10. Do you have any difficulty in accessing some of your rights as an employee?

Yes

No

a. If yes, what have you done about it, and what feedback did you get?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. In your own opinion, what measures can be taken to facilitate employee

access to their rights in Nandi East district?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you very much.

79  

 

APPENDIX IV

LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION

        

   

80  

APPENDIX V

RESEARCH PERMIT